What World Superpower would you choose?
 

Capricious aliens/gods/fairies/whatever abduct you and give you a choice. They have the ultimate power to reshape the modern world as we know it, redistributing resources from the current lone superpower (USA) to an alternative power of your choice. Your power of choice shall be given the economic, industrial and military assets of the USA, and vice versa. Society, politics and culture remain the same. This happens instananeously, and everyones mind is altered so the situation seems perfectly normal...everyone except you.

And no, you can't keep it the same. You have to make a choice.

I'd choose China, but thats just because I'm an insufferable Sino-fanboy (plus innate Chinese isolationism is a good trait in a hyperpower).

What about you?

The EU. I want to go back to them good olde days of imperialism. :)

Besides, with the EU in charge, nothing serious will every happen - the separate countries would never agree...

i'm making a gamble, but i think the EU could very well overcome the US economically, and eventually everwhere else. they seem to have an intelligent republicanism going on, despite some whining... say, shouldn't this be in the politics section ;)

Voted for Russia, because it would be fascinating to see the results of giving a nation now infused with corruption the status of major power. Whether the increased infrastructure and economic capabilities would shift the perspective of the nation, or whether they would just exploit the military power.
Of course, such a situation could be dangerous if it turned out to become absolutely corrupt due to absolute power, but it would be an interesting experiment in any case.

China is the new sleeping giant give them 30 years and they could own the world

Europe or North America will always have an advantage over African/South American/Asian countries/regions because of the tremendous natural resources in both areas and the tremendous natural ports. Europe doesn't have a single place in it that isn't pretty close to the ocean or a decent port. America has a great river system and lots of great farmland and it could isolate itself from the "Old World" if it wanted to.

China looks to be on the rise though, but most of the land isn't very arable, the huge population is the reason for the rise.

China has *always* had a huge population, and this has always been both an advantage (security, manpower) and a disadvantage (food supply, bureaucracy). The country has always had lots of potential, but has been held back by "nationalism", in the sense that everything outside China isn't important/good enough to truly matter.

IF China can shake off it's dictatorial government, while maintaining it's national stability, *and* get rid of the innate conservatism of many Chinese... only then might they have a winning strategy.

I want no superpowers... I want equality for all...

Yes it is a pipe dream but you asked... ;)

USA of course...we could crush all those others easily :)

If the balance of power had to shift away from the US, I would probably be most comfortable with Australia becoming the dominant world power.

They keep to themselves, are stable, and have pretty much stood by the USA in the past. Also, due to their location, I don't think we would ever have to worry about them trying to take over the world.

If I had to rule it on a day to day basis; the EU. I could most relate to the EU culturally.

I like the idea of Japan being a sci fi/anime kind of superpower; having a society totally based on scientific and technological development. Having them as a Hirohito kind of superpower would be rather distasteful though.

Of course the one that most needs to be understood is China; the odds of them being a bonafide superpower over the next few decades are very high indeed.

I personally wouldn't recommend Australia very highly, Greg700. Our history as a minor imperial power in the Pacific is quite atrocious. Our governmental system is slightly dodgy as well, which is fine for a middle power but potentially dangerous for a superpower.

Although seeing Bush potter around Canberra as Howard's faithful lap dog would definately be somewhat amusing.

I was going to say Japan but I imagined the instant backlash from China would be unimaginable, having such a superpower so close.

China would be great, since I do believe that isolationism is the only choice for a superpower (I wish Bush would listen to me).

But the European Union, come on people! They've passed something worse than our DCMA! On Slashdot: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/27/2326226.

Plus, I don't think that the EU would be able to agree upon policies and whatnot, immediately destroying the power given to them.

OTHER...

From there I could technically keep it the USA.. or I could just Include Canada.. and say North America ;);)

Or else. being OTHER, I could just get 2 birds with one stone and say "The world as One County/City" So now the world would be the superpower, but then again, it would also be the only power.

I love how everyone is voting EU because they are the most like us... but hey i did too.

If fact i believe they will be (or will be the closest). Them or china. China becaus of shear numbers. But think about the EU. Every country in it still builds their army just like the used to, a matter of pride and someone independence. Throw them all togehter, thats a fuckin huge army. Plus with so many countries and resources working together, the economy is bound to have long booms

Yeah but if america goes down hill the eu will to, their pretty much following in our footsteps(EU more like US of E) not to mention they dont have our natural resources. Im still sticking by china

Both China and EU have high potentials.

Its true the EU is bound to the economy of the U.S. - but at the same time, the EU is trying to get away from being bound to the economy of the U.S., something Europe has been trying for a decade now.

The EU, despite its numerous differences (some stretching thousands of years) and histories (not to mention that just 60 years ago Europe was a ruin..) does have extreme potential in every way though.

They have a huge population. Each nation has large armies and they have weapons that are our own contemporaries. Yes they don't focus on the military as much as the U.S., but their equipment is often the same as our own (well considering all the treaties and defense work in the past, its a given.)

Now what would be interesting is if Russia joins the EU. now THAT would be a huge landmass with lots of resources and manpower. And the EU has large industrial capacity as well - combined they can easily beat the U.S. now.

Thats a key advantage that China has as well - a huge percent of the stuff in the U.S. is made in China.

The large population gives them a lot of advantages:
-Large military - invaders are going to have a bitch of a time with an army that can have like 100 million in the male adult range of 18-49.
-Cheap labor - makes an industrial base that is able to literally hold the world hostage if it decides to shut everything down

China has major changes though - i visited China in 1992 and again in January this year and I was impressed at how much had changed at Shanghai and other cities. They really modernized a lot of China - sure a lot of it is still "peasants" and it is indeed very rural, but it has grown tremendously. Capitalism has been embraced far more in China - of course human rights / communist issues are still there, but it has really turned.

In 40 years China can easily be the next superpower.

Now what would be interesting though is in 40 years how things will go - if Russia joins the EU then you would have one huge mass from the North atlantic to the North Pacific - then bordering it is China, another power, and across the ocean is the US.

In that case though, if they were all hostile to the U.S., the U.S. would be in shit - with far less industrial capacity than the other nations (than ever before now...) and with the U.S. economy almost entirely dependent on those abroad.. I can see how things can get very serious in the future.

Oh crap we've all forgotten about the obvious

South America will be the next super power

I've gotta go with Australia. We've had our PR disasters in the past, but no more so than anyone else. If someone's going to have that much power, I want it to be a nation that can laugh at itself and everyone else, and a nation which plays cricket.

Oh, and you can keep the military. We don't want it.

I voted Japan even though i dont see it happening. Their tech would be amazing, and their social system is nice too. Their small size and possible lack of resources wouldn't be helpful though. I see them as being too dependant.

I'm not so sure about China. They seem like they would be an extremely unstable leading superpower. Sure they have the population to handle lots of things, but its also their biggest hinderance.

I dont blame those who vote Australia. I've heard that Australians are among the nicest people you'll ever meet.

Canada, pretty much the same as the U.S only north. It would be nice having our dollar higher then yours, and we have no military to take advantage of being a superpower

Russia. Complete control of one's citizens is a tempting prospect. (I'm assuming Soviet Russia, obviously.)

All it takes is a subtle climate change of a few degrees and the 'breadbasket' that is America will become an arid wasteland like much Africa . . . . . . . the colder regions of the USSR will warm and they will start selling grain to the USA . . . a reversal in the flow . . . . . lets not get too cocky about 'ruling the world' . . mother nature will decide for us . . . . . . . .

Russia has the bomb! We have many bombs! We don't know where they all are! Perhaps you would like a "dirty" bomb ;)?

Edit: In all seriousness, I like the way that Russia has started to really turn itself around in it's policies in just the past ten years. I think if they had more resources they could be a lot better of a country, but that's me.

tie between EU and Japan, went for EU cause there are more countries, but japan has its perks

What you propose is a paradox. The massive change you suggest would completely destabilize both countrys. The US economy is a result of its culture and also is propelled by it. It's the chicken and the egg puzzle. Nice question, though.